Gov. Rick Scott’s legislative agenda headed further into the ditch Friday night, as the Senate finally bent to the House’s will and accepted a 3 percent tuition increase for college and university students.

Scott has long opposed a tuition increase. And he had an ally in the Senate for the course of the legislative session, even as the House pushed for a 6 percent hike.

But as the two sides labored into a second weekend on differences in a $74-billion-plus spending plan, the Senate finally offered to meet the House halfway, recommending a 3 percent boost. The House accepted.

Senate Budget Chief Joe Negron, R-Stuart, and his House counterpart, Rep. Seth McKeel, R-Lakeland, also agreed to $70 million for Everglades funding, settling on the Senate’s starting position and slightly more than Scott requested in his budget proposal.

Scott also continues to face a challenge from lawmakers on his bid for $2,500-across-the-board teacher pay hikes.

Negron and McKeel agreed to meet Scott’s $480 million pot of money for the raises, but they want the money distributed based on job performance and to include a larger pool of instructional personnel that would shrink what goes directly to teachers.

The two sides plan to continue talks tomorrow.

Budget conferees working on education — the biggest-ticket item in the state’s $74-billion-plus spending plan — effectively abandoned efforts late Monday toward reaching a final agreement.

The House’s push for 6 percent college and university tuition increases, and the Senate’s demand that state scholarship programs including Bright Futures funding avoid any cuts were among a handful of areas dividing House and Senate negotiators.

Public school funding does look generally on track to receive slighly more than a $1 billion funding increase next fall. Gov. Rick Scott had sought a $1.2 billion increase, that had initially been matched by the Senate.

“We made a good faith effort…and I thought we could get there,” said Rep. Erik Fresen, R-Miami, the House’s lead negotiator on schools, after a final round of talks yielded no overall agreement late Monday.

Scott and the Senate are rejecting any talk of tuition increases. And the House earlier reduced its 6 percent demand to 4 percent — only to ratchet its tuition proposal back up to 6 percent in its final offer as it sought agreement in other education areas.

Fresen’s counterpart, Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, said the two sides had settled plenty of lesser matters. But big policy differences still divide lawmakers.

Next stop: Budget chairs, Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, and Rep. Seth McKeel, R-Lakeland, will take a stab at the work for a few days, beginning tomorrow evening. They’ll have a chance to rope into their deal-making a wide range of spending differences in environmental, economic development and health and human service programs.

Lawmakers have to button-up the budget by early next week for the session to conclude on time, May 3.

The Florida House would increase school spending by $395 per-pupil next year while also allowing Florida colleges and universities to boost tuition by 6 percent, under an education budget released Wednesday.

Education Budget chairman Erik Fresen, R-Miami, said the spending plan is also likely to include $2,500 teacher pay raises — a priority of Gov. Rick Scott. Details are still being worked out.

“Right now, we are exceeding it,” Fresen said of the pay-raise effort.

But there are clear areas of friction.

Scott has recommended a $412-per-pupil increase — bringing spending to $6,800 for each of Florida’s 2.7 million students. That’s edging closer to the state’s high-water mark, $7,126 reached during the pre-recession 2006-07 school year.

Scott also reiterated his opposition Tuesday to tuition increases.

“I’m against tuition increases. This is a tax, this is a tax on students, it is a tax on families. We can’t be raising the cost of getting a higher education in this state,” Scott said.

Among the more controversial provisions of the House budget is what Fresen called a recalibration of the state’s school funding formula. The rewrite changes how students taking online classes are calculated — a move which supporters of Florida Virtual School — condemed Wednesday.

Florida Virtual School is the nation’s largest K-12 online system. It’s been used by many students to take a seventh class — above the standard six offered by many school districts — and in rural counties where online students can access classes not available in classrooms, supporters said.

Vern Pickup-Crawford, lobbyist for the Palm Beach County School Board, said the revamped formula would likely cost the county about $5 million.

After catching heat from even a member of the state’s Board of Education, Gov. Rick Scott announced Monday that all 23 of Florida’s colleges that offer bachelor’s degrees have embraced his call for making available a $10,000 degree program.

Scott has been pushing to make higher education more affordable, ridiculing Florida’s universities for moving forward with tuition increases. The state college system, however, has ben more willing to follow Scott’s lead — and the governor Monday went to Miami Dade College’s north campus to announce a clean sweep of the four-year degree schools.

“Our goal should be that students do not have to go into debt in order to obtain a degree,” Scott said.

The cut-rate programs, like the four-year degrees at colleges, will be limited. Palm Beach State’s four-year degrees, are currently available only in business supervision and management, information technology and nursing.  Normally, they cost $13,200 over four years, roughly the state average .

Board of Education vice-chairman Roberto Martinez dismissed Scott’s proposal last fall as a “gimmick.” But Martinez’s two-terms on the board ended Dec. 31.

While the State College System was given the go-ahead by the Legislature to increase tuition 5 percent this year, colleges have largely escaped Scott’s scorn. In part, it may be because many of their programs are viewed as providing skills for current work force needs.

Randy Hanna, chancellor of the Florida College System, said last fall that he expected most individual colleges to go along with offering at least one job-oriented degree program at the lower rate to get students out into the local work force.

Scott’s idea isn’t original. Texas Gov. Rick Perry aired a similar challenge in that state in 2012. Since then, 10 universities have offered $10,000 degrees.

Critics have warned the initiative could lead to states sacrificing some level of quality education by deploying adjunct professors and teaching assistants to reduce costs to meet the $10,000 standard. Others also have said publicly financed scholarships may have to be beefed-up to reduce the cost to students.

Republican Rick Scott named five new members Thursday to the board of governors leading Florida’s universities – giving him a powerful hold on a panel that earlier resisted his calls for lower tuition and cost-cutting.

The five new appointees include H. Wayne Huizenga, Jr., 51, of Delray Beach,  son of the South Florida investor and former
sports team owner, and Wendy Link, 48, of Palm Beach  Gardens, managing partner of a law firm
bearing her name.

With the five new selections, Scott appointees now comprise nine-members of the 17-person State University System Board of Governors. The new members get seven-year terms and must be confirmed by the Florida Senate.

By adding new allies, the governor likely fortifies his drive to retool Florida’s university system, which he sees as central to the push to expand the state’s economy and create jobs.

“Gov. Rick Scott has chosen a group of well-qualified individuals, with broad ranges of skills and experience,” said Board Chair Dean Colson, an appointee of Scott’s predecessor, Gov. Charlie Crist. “They join the Board of Governors at a time when there is a heightened awareness of the importance of higher education to the citizens of our state.”

University presidents and student leaders Wednesday said schools would put a temporary moratorium on tuition increases if Florida lawmakers approve $118 million in new funding next year.

The offer was part of  the Aim Higher campaign unveiled at the state Capitol, a public relations offensive rolled out three months before the start of the legislative session. The push is designed to underscore the role universities play in sparking economic development in Florida — while also building a case for more taxpayer support.

The $118 million would be spread across Florida’s 12 public universities. Universities want it to come on top of the Legislature restoring the $300 million cut from universities last year — a decision that helped fuel the latest round of tuition increases, which this fall ranged from 9 percent to 15 percent.

University of Florida President Bernard Machen said Wednesday that dollars have to come either from taxpayers or tuition, but that supporting universities is “vital to this state.”

Gov. Rick Scott opposed the tuition hikes and appears poised to dig-in again when lawmakers return to Tallahassee for the spring legislative session. But University of West Florida President Judy Bense said that if lawmakers grant the $118 million increase, “We promise not to seek one penny of a tuition increase this year.”

Still, the University of Florida and Florida State University plan to seek legislative approval for a measure that would allow them to hike tuition to the “market rate” — effectively whatever students will pay. Earlier this year, Scott vetoed the legislation, but UF, FSU and other schools which could later qualify for the tuition privilege support making another attempt at convincing the governor this year.

While the average annual tuition to a Florida public university has spiked in recent years to $6,232 this fall, Florida’s cost ranks only 41st highest in the nation among public university systems.

The $300 million reduction in taxpayer funding this year came after taxpayer dollars tumbled 24 percent the preceding four years, heightening the focus on tuition.

Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, the Senate’s budget chairman, said he agreed that more money should flow into education — but stopped short of endorsing the pitch made by university leaders.

Scott, who has criticized Florida schools for seeking tuition increases while still handing out robust salaries to administrators, embraced the leaders’ commitment to freeezing tuition. But Scott, too, didn’t advance the request for additional funding.

“We know Florida families want the best value possible from our higher education system, which means we have to make advanced degrees more affordable and more connected to
students’ ability to get a great job when they graduate,” Scott said.  “We are pleased to share this important goal with many of Florida’s finest higher education leaders who are committed to holding the line on tuition.”

Gov. Rick Scott, who has been trying to rein-in the cost of higher education in Florida, fired off a challenge Monday to state college leaders — urging they create bachelor’s degree programs costing no more than $10,000.

Such degrees at Florida state colleges — formerly known as community colleges — currently average $13,264, said Randy Hanna, chancellor of the Florida College System.

“Today, what I’m doing is saying to our state colleges, ‘Can you come up with $10,000-degrees, where people can get great jobs…so you could live your version of the American dream,’” Scott told a Tampa television station, before announcing his proposal in an appearance at St. Petersburg College.

Most of Scott’s earlier questioning of higher education costs have been directed at the State University System, where the latest round of tuition increases of from 9 percent to 15 percent, have boosted the average annual rate to $6,232 this fall — 41st highest in the nation.

But the State College System now serves almost 900,000 students, with enrollment rising with the slow economy.

Hanna said the “logistics still have to be worked out,” on the governor’s challenge. But Hanna said he expected individual colleges to embrace the idea of offering at least one popular degree program at the lower rate that is aimed at getting students out into the local work force.

Florida’s ruling Republicans are undermining their own pledge to boost the state’s economy by shifting millions of dollars away from public education, former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham and state Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith said Wednesday.

Flanked by a dozen university students, Graham and Smith expanded on what has become a steady campaign theme this fall for Democrats in state House and Senate races across the state.

Graham, who also served as Florida governor from 1979-87, said Republicans have come close to reversing the state’s longstanding commitment to universities, which in his time had taxpayers covering 75 percent of college costs and students paying 25 percent.

“We can’t continue down this course if we aspire to be a state where young people want to plant their personal flags,” Graham said.

The Legislature cut university spending $300 million this year, while restoring $1 billion to public schools which had shouldered a $1.3 billion reduction in 2011.  Tuition was increased between 9 percent and 15 percent at the state’s 11 universities, in the latest round of several years of steep hikes.

Florida Republicans have defended the actions. Lawmakers have had to deal with multibillion dollar budget shortfalls since the recession hardened in 2007.  With analysts predicting a slight surplus next year, Republican Gov. Rick Scott has lately joined the chorus calling for more dollars for schools.

But with the federal government also reducing financial aid programs, Graham concluded, “At all levels, higher education is under assault.”

Graham and Smith said the budget cuts, combined with a slow economy, are making it increasingly difficult for Florida students to attend state universities. Meanwhile, students attending Wednesday’s news conference with the Democratic leaders also told of struggling to enroll in the classes they needed, or being forced to attend school for an additional academic year because of budget cuts.

“We have demonstrably devalued education in this state,” Smith said.

Smith said Democratic candidates in legislative races have made the difficulties families face with education a central part of their campaign pitch.

“In almost every one of our House races and in the Senate races we are involved in, you’re hearing about education again,” Smith said. “It is front and center, because families in Florida, when they sit down at the breakfast table, are worried about not only jobs for themselves, but jobs for their children and grandchildren.”

While Graham decried rising student costs, he is expected to be in attendance Thursday at the Florida Supreme Court for a case he started and which critics say could spur tuition rates even higher. Graham is the lead party in a 2007 lawsuit over whether the State University System Board of Governors — or the Legislature — is empowered to set tuition.

Lower courts have ruled against Graham, whose side says a 2002 constitutional amendment makes it clear that it is solely the board’s responsibility to set tuition rates.

Under current law, the Legislature has authority to set tuition increases, and universities can add an additional increase so long as the total tuition increase year-over-year does not exceed 15 percent.

Gov. Rick Scott said Wednesday that he didn’t expect leaders of the state university system to approve much in the way of tuition increases, saying he thought they shared the same goals.

Scott’s comments came shortly after Florida Atlantic University President M.J. Saunders made her school’s pitch for a 15 percent tuition hike at the Board of Governors’ meeting in Orlando, which is considering 2012-13 “work plans” for Florida’s 11 public universities.

The plans include academic and enrollment goals, spending proposals and performance data. But for the universities this year, money is key.

Most are seeking 15 percent boosts to at least partially offset a $300 million budget cut to schools imposed by the Florida Legislature. Scott is unfazed.

“I believe the Board of Governors is going to look at those work plans,” Scott said following an address to a Rotary Club in Tallahassee. “I think they have the same goals as I have. They’re going to watch out how the money is spent. You know I’m very concerned about tuition.”

Scott said that given the economic pressure on Florida’s families and the debt students are currently carrying, “I’ll be surprised if there’s significant tuition increases.”

Scott, however, isn’t authorized to block any increase granted by the board, which is expected to vote Thursday. Scott sidestepped a question about whether he was exploring ways to challenge any tuition hike — if it came to that.

Saunders told the Board’s Strategic Planning Committee reviewing the work plans that FAU has shouldered a $77 million decline in state dollars from 2008 through last year, before facing a $24.7 million reduction this fall. Without a 15 percent tuition hike, the school has warned that 500 course offerings could be threatened, along with 75 faculty and 9 advisor positions.

FAU already plans to close its downtown Fort Lauderdale tower campus and Treasure Coast campus in Port St. Lucie, moving programs to the school’s nearby branches.

“We knew that if we were to keep our university strong, we had to reduce our administrative overhead,” Saunders said.

The Florida Council of 100, whose leaders include many of the state’s top corporate executives, urged Gov. Rick Scott to veto legislation that would create a 12th public university by separating the University of South Florida from its Polytechnic campus in Lakeland.

But the council said Scott should sign into law a separate measure (SB 7129) that would let Florida State University and the University of Florida raise tuition to whatever level the market will bear.

“Florida’s public postsecondary system has a historic opportunity to take a quantum leap that will ultimately mean more jobs and economic prosperity for Floridians,” wrote Steven Halverson, council chairman and president of the Haskell Company, a Jacksonville structural design company.

Halverson said the tuition bill follows the principles outlined in the counci’s 2010 report, Closing the Talent Gap, which called for bringing the state’s educational programs in line with future economic needs.

But the legislation accelerating the independence of USF’s Polytechnic campus isn’t a wise investment, Halverson wrote in a separate letter to Scott. He said the Polytechnic proposal hasn’t been adequately studied.

“The Council of 100 wholeheartedly supports making our state university system the best in the country,” Halverson concluded. “The future of Florida depends on it. Deciding where and how to invest scarce resources to achieve that objective should be the product of a fact-based, thorough analysis of the return on investment. That analysis hasn’t been done…”

The Florida House signed off on a plan to allow Florida State University and the University of Florida to set higher tuition than the state’s nine other public universities in a move to boost the two institutions’ national prominence.

The passage of the bill (HB 7129) is the latest effort in a decades-long attempt to create a tiered university system, something GOP leaders say is necessary for Florida’s higher ed system to compete with other states’ universities.

The bill allows research universities that meet certain standards – right now, UF and FSU – to charge higher tuition and fees than the other universities and also authorizes those universities to establish required courses for certain students.

Critics of the plan, which the House passed 85-28, say the hikes impose too much of a financial burden on already cash-strapped poor students.

California has seven Association of American Universities “pre-eminent” research universities, while Florida has just one, the bill sponsor Bill Proctor, R-St. Augustine, said.

“That’s shameful,” Proctor, the chancellor of the private Flagler College and a former member of the state Board of Education. Proctor said his plan will help Florida compete for businesses who want to relocate to regions with premiere research universities.

“Nothing is as important to economic recovery to this state as what you do to the state universities,” Proctor said.

Tuition at UF, FSU and three other universities has climbed 60 percent over the past four years, and 45 percent at five other schools, including Florida Atlantic University. Universities can seek as much as a 15 percent tuition hike each year but require approval for the increases from the universities’ Board of Governors, which has not rejected any university’s tuition request.

Rep. Dwight Bullard, a teacher, called the measure irresponsible.

“If we’re supposed to be up here looking out for the best interests of our constituents, we can’t go about doing tuition increases that large,” Bullard, D-Miami, said.

House and Senate budget negotiators have agreed to cut $300 million from universities this year — which lawmakers say can be eased if schools tap rich reserves they’re sitting on.

But Florida Atlantic University is among several schools warily watching how the final deal is structured.  Many also have questioned Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander’s characterization that Florida’s 11 public universities have more than $800 million in reserves.

FAU President M.J. Saunders described the Senate’s initial plan to cut $400 million as “disastrous.” It would have sliced $47 million from the Boca Raton-based university, costing it about one-third of its operating budget.

Under the smaller reduction, FAU is looking at losing between $23.1 million and $27.2 million, officials said. But the school’s cushion for softening this cut isn’t as large as lawmakers claimed. FAU’s  purported $66 million reserve is actually closer to $16 million, when a range of spending commitments and already planned reductions are deducted, official said.

Meanwhile, budget writers have agreed to keep talk of university tuition increases out of the state’s roughly $70 billion budget. Colleges are now in line for a 5 percent tuition hike, under an agreement between House and Senate conferees. But Gov. Rick Scott has said he doesn’t want tuition increases this year.

No matter what lawmakers recommend, Florida universities can still seek as much as 15 percent tuition hikes from the State University System’s Board of Governors. Scott appoints members of the board. But he has no apparent ability to block board approval of a tuition boost.

University budget cuts loom and the Legislature is divided over talk of tuition increases.

But Dean Colson, chairman of the State University System’s Board of Governors, said Thursday that lawmakers’ criticism overlooks the level of belt-tightening Florida’s 11 public universities have already endured.

“I understand the need to push us to make cuts to get rid of fat,” Colson said, after testifying before the House Education Committee.  “But the last four years, we’ve gotten rid of $500 million worth of fat, so I’m not sure there’s that much fat left.”

The Senate budget committee approved a state spending plan Wednesday that reduces state support for universities by $400 million, including a $47 million cut for Florida Atlantic University. The FAU reduction amounts to about one-third of the school’s operating budget.

The Senate plan also doesn’t include a tuition increase, although budget chief J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, acknowledges that universities can seek up to 15 percent tuition hikes from Colson’s board. Alexander said universities should first draw down the more than $800 million in reserves they hold.

Colson, though, isn’t so sure about how easy it’ll be to tap the cash.

“There’s an explanation for most of that money,” Colson said, adding, “but if some have hoarded that extra money, it’s okay to squeeze them for it.”

Gov. Rick Scott has rejected the pitch for tuition increases. And Colson also distanced himself from another level of Scott criticism: That universities should work on reducing the robust salaries drawn by many of the school’s top admininstrators.

“The president of the university of Florida is running a $4 billion, $5 billion operation. What should he get paid? You can’t pay him $200,000-a-year,” Colson said.

Indeed, UF President Bernie Machen earned almost $524,000 in 2009-10, according to the most recent review of presidential pay, compiled by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Colson said that whether Scott or the Legislature endorse a tuition increase, he expects universities will come to the Board of Governors to seek approval for as much as a 15 percent hike next year. But he conceded that less certain is how the board will rule on those requests. 

The deep, $1.3 billion budget cut imposed last year on Florida public schools would be largely offset with a similarly sized increase in classroom dollars proposed Tuesday by the Florida Senate.

Senate Pre-K-12 education budget chief David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, said he was looking restore school funding this election year after many districts absorbed thousands of layoffs and program cuts when per-pupil dollars were dragged to their lowest level in six years last fall, by budget-slashing lawmakers.

“It’s not 2005-6, but it sure is good,” Simmons said Tuesday.

The Senate has been slow to release details of its budget proposal and Tuesday mostly just dribbled out its education package. The House, by contrast, is poised to approve its full $69.2 billion spending plan later this week.

But for starters, the Senate has trumped the House in school funding. The House is recommending a $1 billion boost, which amounts to a 2 percent increase per-student. The Senate plan tops 3 percent and would bring per-student dollars up an average $192.70 — about $51 more than what the House is offering.

For Florida’s 28 colleges, the Senate proposed a 3 percent tuition boost. But for universities, the Senate appears to be more closely alligned with Gov. Rick Scott — who has dismissed a call from university presidents for higher tuition.

The Senate’s proposal calls for no base tuition boost. The House would give Florida’s 11 public universities authority for an 8 percent base increase that can be raised to 15 percent for universities, with approval from the State University System’s Board of Governors.

Even with the the Senate snub, universities could still seek  as much as a 15 percent hike from the board. But if Scott digs in, it’s likely the governor-appointed board may be reluctant to OK higher tuition.

The Senate proposal cuts university dollars by 4 percent — about double the cut leveled by the House. Both sides, though, look on track to continue a trend in which state dollars for Florida universities have dropped 24 percent since 2008.  Florida’s average tuition level ranks 45th in the nation — and administrators have been clamoring for more authority to shift costs onto students.

Gov. Rick Scott said Tuesday that he’s ready to put the brakes on tuition hikes for college and university students across Florida.

“I don’t believe in tuition hikes,” Scott said. 

He added, “We have to do what the private sector has done, what every family has done. We have to tighten our belts to see how we can save money. That’s the first thing I want to focus on: How do we reduce our costs, rather than how do we raise tuition.”

Last week, 300 Florida university students rallied at the Capitol to oppose what looks like another push by the Legislature to approve a tuition increase. Tuition at five Florida universities has climbed 60 percent over the past four years, while students at the other six public universities have weathered a 45 percent boost in that time.

The presidents of the University of Florida and Florida State University earlier this month urged a House committee to give schools authority to begin charging higher tuition for science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs — the STEM degrees that Scott says are the path to employment in the evolving economy.

The House budget committee Wednesday looks set to approve another potential 15 percent boost in university tuition as part of its $69 billion state spending plan. College tuition would climb 8 percent, under the plan.

Florida’s tuition has been climbing even as state support for universities has dropped 24 percent since 2008, shifting more school costs onto students and their families. The state’s tuition remains the 45th lowest rate in the country.

But while universities have been cutting programs to reduce costs, Scott thinks more reductions can be made at the administrative level.

Six-figure salaries paid to high-level administrators seem to have endured Florida’s prolonged economic slump. Over the past year, they’ve become a rallying point at campus protests.

“I want the cost of living in this state to be lower than other states, I don’t want it to be higher than other states,” Scott said. “Would you think that way in business? You’d wouldn’t say, ‘Oh, gosh. The other business, it costs them more to do things, so let me raise my prices.’ You don’t do that. You figure out, how can we be efficient.” 

With the House already including a potential 15 percent tuition increase in its budget, 300 Florida students rallied at the Capitol Thurday to oppose shelling out more even as lawmakers reduce the state’s share of higher education spending.

Michael Long, chairman of the Florida Student Association, told the crowd that tuition has climbed 60 percent over the past four years, while the state has reduced general revenue support for schools by 24 percent.

“We do not mind contributing to our education as long as its reasonable,” Long said. “But 60 percent in four years is not reasonable.”

In his role as FSA chairman, Long also sits as a member of the State University System’s Board of Governors. Along with opposing the tuition boost, students are opposing separate legislation that would give the governor authority to appoint the BOG’s student representative.

For his part, Gov. Rick Scott didn’t include a tuition increase in the $66.4 billion budget proposal he unveiled last month. He also has questioned the spending priorities of the state’s 11 public universities — nudging them to promote for science and technology programs that employers are said to want.

The Senate so far hasn’t begun serious budget work.  But Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, was among those speaking to the student group Thursday. He pointed out that even with the steady increases, Florida has the fifth lowest average tuition in the country among state systems.

Haridopolos, though, told the crowd that one of the reasons the Senate was moving slowly on the budget was so that it could hear more from those — like the students — affected by the Legislature’s budget building in a year when lawmakers are trying to close a $2 billion shortfall.

Alexander Press, a 22-year-old Florida Atlantic University senior, was among those at the rally.

“It’s a lot of money,” Press said of the tuition hikes. “We’re just starting to make a recovery from this recession, and it’s not easy for families to have to keep paying more.”

Florida university students could face another round of 15 percent tuition hikes next fall, under a spending plan unveiled Tuesday by the House Higher Education budget committee.

Gov. Rick Scott, who has been pushing schools to expand their science, technology, education and mathematics programs, saying STEM degrees are what employers are seeking. But Scott, who has questioned the spending practices at state universities, notably didn’t call for a tuition increase in his $66.4 billion state budget proposal, released last month.

Committee Chair Marlene O’Toole, R-Lady Lake,  acknowledged that the proposed tuition hike will prove controversial — and may face open opposition from Scott. But with state support for universities slashed by 6.2 percent — following a pattern that has seen public funding reduced 17 percent between 2007 and 2010 — tuition’s role has grown.

Since Florida universities were authorized to boost tuition by as much as 15 percent, beginning in 2007, the cost for students and their families has climbed 60 percent. O’Toole pointed out, however, that Florida’s average $5,626 annual tuition is still among the lowest in the nation.

Colleges could increase their tuition by 8 percent next year, under the House proposal.